Georgia Lawmaker’s Response to Apalachee Shooting Quickly Goes Off Rails

The Apalachee High School shooting here in Georgia wasn’t the worst school shooting we’ve ever seen, but it didn’t have to be. Any loss of life is a terrible tragedy and the facts of the case make it more of one.

This was a terribly disturbed kid who reportedly threatened violence before, and his father’s alleged response to that was apparently to buy him an AR-15 and just trust that he’d play nice.

Clearly, he didn’t.

Now, both the father and the son are facing charges.

However, for one lawmaker here, that simply isn’t enough. She’s decided we need new laws, which is what we typically see after something like Apalachee. Yet these don’t start off terrible. It just doesn’t stay un-terrible.

Trejo joined with Apalachee families and Ishmael “Junior” Angulo, whose brother Christian Angulo died in the shooting, to support Johns Creek Democratic Rep. Michelle Au and others who are calling for greater gun regulation in a state with some of the nation’s most permissive gun laws.

They praised Burns’ efforts but said the state needs gun safety laws to prevent another tragic shooting.

“Speaker Burns’ plan focuses on what happens when a firearm is already in a school. Dr. Au’s bill ensures that firearms are secure so they don’t get there in the first place,” said Layla Renee Contreras, a former Apalachee student with Change for Chee, a community group created after the shooting to advocate for school safety.

…

Au proposed tax credits up to $300 for purchasing safe storage devices, such as gun safes and trigger locks. Burns says he supports tax incentives. A bipartisan group of lawmakers passed those credits in the House last year and the Senate passed a similar bill, but neither made it through the other chamber.

That’s not so bad, right? After all, a lot of gun rights advocates are supportive of such tax credits. It’s a rare place where both the pro-gun and anti-gun side really do find common ground.

That’s a great place to start and I fully support this measure.

It’s just everything else Au is proposing that’s a problem.

Au also proposed processes for background checks, which are unlikely to gain Republican support.

Another bill she introduced would make it a crime to allow a child access to a gun, including failing to safely secure it or leaving it out somewhere — a proposal also made by Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat. It also requires businesses to put up signs about those regulations. That bill has one Republican co-sponsor, Rep. Sharon Cooper of Marietta. The 14-year-old arrested in the Apalachee shooting, [killer’s name redacted so as to not make him any more famous], allegedly got the semiautomatic assault rifle used in the attack from his father. Father and son are both facing murder charges.

Parent also has proposed barring anyone convicted of family violence from having guns. She also introduced a bill that would require a hearing process if someone who had been involuntarily hospitalized wants to get their records wiped. Right now, Georgia’s crime information center wipes that information five years after hospitalization.

I find it funny that Au supports tax credits, but then also wants to create a mandatory storage law as well.

It’s not inconsistent, necessarily, but I’m of the opinion that when it comes to using the law to accomplish something–at least when it’s not a terrible idea to try to do so–then what you want is the minimum effective dose. What I mean is that you should use the least amount of legislation possible. Tax credits, for example, might well solve a lot of the issues all on their own. Most parents know their kids shouldn’t have ready access to a firearm as it stands.

So, of course, her immediate thing is that we should make it mandatory without regard for any other factors at all, just because one father allegedly made the most terrible decision he could have.

But then again, Au wants to screw with the background check processes–whatever the heck that’s supposed to mean–and wants to make it harder for people who were committed but haven’t had an issue since to get guns. 

Nothing about this is good.

On behalf of the rest of the state of Georgia, I’m ashamed a person like this got elected to office here.